Winchester Star editorial: A matter of life or death

Cruising down the road, coming off of Route 128 approaching Middlesex Turnpike in Burlington, and suddenly you hear a “ding,” an email.

You figure it might be from that new client, so you grab your Samsung and give it a quick glance.

A mere seconds later … boom! You accidentally ram into the vehicle ahead. The damage is small, but you later discover the cost to repair the two vehicles is in the thousands of dollars. Of course, your insurance will pick up the bill, but in the long run you lose -- your rates go up.

Technology is great, but technology mixed with driving is getting us into big trouble, causing more and more accidents, which gives insurance companies reasons to jack up rates.

Recently, several auto insurers received permission from the Massachusetts Division of Insurance to raise their rates by 3 to 6 percent this year, following a 6 to 9 percent increase in 2016.

The companies point to distracted drivers -- talking on a mobile device, texting, checking the latest Facebook post -- and non-technology actions, such as reacting to a coffee spill, as the major culprits.

“Distracted driving was always there, but it just intensified as more applications for the smartphones became available,” Bill Caldwell, executive vice president of property and casualty at Horace Mann Insurance, told the Wall Street Journal.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration notes that 80 percent of accidents and 16 percent of highway deaths are the result of distracted drivers. Studies also show that one out of every four car accidents in the United States is caused by texting and driving.

Teens are disproportionately responsible for fatal road crashes involving distracted driving, but adults also take part in these risky behaviors. According to State Farm Insurance, 36 percent of all drivers text and drive — and it's making everyone's rates go up.

The problem has reached an epidemic level, and has become a top agenda item for policy-makers. Officials are trying to tackle the problem through providing funds for police departments to conduct high-visibility enforcement and to launch education campaigns.

Laws are already on the books that prohibit Massachusetts drivers under 18 from using a cellphone while driving, and make texting and driving illegal for all motorists. A bill passed in the Senate that has never made it through the House, which would prohibit the use of mobile devices in a vehicle without hands-free technology, could help.

Laws have their place; however, this is a situation where people need to change their behaviors, to pay attention to the road and traffic, on both small-town streets and major highways like Route 128, instead of that little device. This is literally a matter of life or death.